That Holiday Magic
by LoveandLearn
Summary: Addison's daughter doesn't understand the magic of the holiday season until Santa finally delivers the one thing she's always wanted. One-shot.


"Mommy." The little girl lightly tugged on her mother's hand while they stood in line at Starbucks. "Can I have what you're having?"

Addison looked down at her daughter. "Can you have a Venti triple shot Cappuccino? I'm gonna give you a no on that one, baby. Sorry." she replied to her daughter. "But you can have a kids hot chocolate. And if you promise to be a good girl at the hospital day care today, I'll even ask them put whipped cream and drizzle it with extra chocolate on top."

Normally, Addison dropped her daughter off at one of New York's more prestigious kindergartens. She had Alexa on the wait list half way through the pregnancy and still only got in because of the famous Forbes-Montgomery name. But like most other private schools in New York, the holidays meant that schools were closed for Christmas Break which left Addison no choice but to leave her at the hospital daycare while she worked. Hiring a nanny had never been an option for her. She wanted a very hands-on approach in raising her daughter and she knew she couldn't do it her way with a nanny.

"Can I get one of those little vanilla scones?" Alexa looked up at her mother hopefully.

Addison didn't have the heart to say "no" again. She gave her daughter a smile and a nod then approached the cash register to place her order.

"Your morning usual, Dr. Montgomery?" the barista asked her.

"Addison. And yes, the usual." she corrected, just as she did every morning. She usually stopped by the coffee shop a second time during her lunch break to refuel her caffeine, sometimes she'd show up in scrubs and/or a lab coat if she was in a rush and she somehow got stuck with the professional title. "Lex, you wanna order?"

The five year old grinned at the man behind the counter.

"Let me guess, hot chocolate?" he asked playfully.

Alexa nodded. "With whipped cream and extra chocolate syrup on top." she specified. "And a vanilla bean scone, please."

"You got it." He replied. "Your daughter?" he asked as he typed the order into the register.

"Yup. Christmas Break." she explained as she held her ATM out.

"Oh, sounds like you're gonna be spending lots of time with Mommy." he said to the child. "Is this gonna be your usual?" he asked her and saw an instantaneous nod. "Well then I will keep it in mind for tomorrow morning. Here you go, Dr. Mon-Addison." he corrected himself as he handed her ATM back.

"Thank you, Tyler." Addison smiled as she took her card and moved to the other end of the coffee shop to wait for her drink with her daughter following close behind her holding her brown bag.

"He was nice." Alexa commented while they waited. "I like him."

"Good, I'm glad. I was really worried about what you would think of the cashier at Starbucks." Addison replied sarcastically.

"You don't gots to worry no more. I approve." she told her mother. Obviously sarcasm was not in her realm of understanding yet. "Is he gonna be your boyfriend?"

Addison's eyes widened as she looked at her daughter. "Where did you get that idea?"

Alexa shrugged. "He's cute. He makes coffee, you like coffee. That means you got stuffs in common, I heard on TV that that's important. And now he knows my usual so maybe he could be my daddy."

"Alexa, that's not how it works. There is much more to it than just that." Addison informed her naive daughter.

"Oh..." Alexa murmured in disappointment. "Being a grown up sounds hard. I don't like it."

* * *

The next morning Alexa eagerly grinned when Tyler, her favorite Starbucks employee remembered her order without her saying a word. She obviously had a crush on him and she didn't even try to hide it. She skipped to the opposite side to wait for their drinks but her gleeful disposition was ruined when she accidentally ran into someone.

"I'm sorry, mister." she said, looking up at the man.

"Alexa." her mother scolded, going after the child after paying for the drinks. It wasn't until she saw who the man that the situation became more awkward than it was. "Derek..." she said in surprise. She hadn't seen him since he had left her almost six years earlier.

"Your daughter?" he asked, looking to the little who was now shyly clinging to her mother rather than skipping around the coffee shop.

"Yeah, and I should probably stop buying her caffeine. She seems to have enough energy as it is. I'm sorry she bumped into you. She could have spilled your coffee all over your clothes and..."

"It's fine." he replied with a shrug.

"How long are you back in New York?"

"What makes you think I ever left?" he asked.

"I read one of your articles in the New England Journal of Medicine. It said you're currently working somewhere in Seattle." she replied. "Was I not supposed to know? I'm sorry."

"No, no, it's nothing like that. I just didn't think you paid attention. I didn't know you saw that article. Yeah, I moved out there. I'm back for the holidays. Nancy is hosting Christmas at her place and my mom threatened to kill me if I didn't come. I came out a week early to send since time with everyone. I figured I owe it to her since I haven't been going for about 8 years now."

"Oh..." she murmured awkwardly.

"How old is your daughter?" he inquired.

"Her name is Alexa. She's five years old." Addison replied, smiling down at the little girl wrapped around her leg.

" Well, I should probably get going. I wanna see the chief before he starts rounds. Haven't seen that old bastard in years. It was great seeing you."

That was a lie and she knew it, or at least that's what she told herself. She smiled regardless, giving him the same courtesy and wishing him a Merry Christmas before he left. Then she let out a heavy sigh and looked down at her daughter.

"He was cute too." her daughter told her.

"Alexa..." Addison trailed off, rolling her eyes at her daughter. She moved to the counter to pick up the tray with their drinks then held her free hand out to her daughter so they could cross the street toward the hospital. "I think you need to stop hanging out with Aunt Savvy. You're hitting on everyone you see."

"Am not!" Alexa exclaimed. "...Just the cute ones."

* * *

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Derek Shepherd, the famous magician." Mark Sloan said, spotting Derek just a few feet ahead of with Mount Sinai's Chief of Staff, Robert Glen.

"He certainly is a magician in the OR." Robert agreed.

"I wasn't talking about that. Have you seen his disappearing act? I guess he had a lot of practice with Addison while they were married and then one night be literally disappeared into thin air and never came back."

"Sloan." The Chief warned with a glare.

"Sorry." Mark apologized half heartedly. "It's good to see you, Derek."

"Yeah, you too. I saw Addison and your daughter earlier. I guess I should congratulate you, five years late but still..."

"My daughter?" Mark questioned, his brows instantly arching.

"Alexa is not Mark's daughter, Derek." Robert quickly interjected.

"I'm actually not sure who her father is. Addison never talks about him. I have a few ideas of who it could be but I'm not sure. She's only talked about him once and she said he didn't want to be in the picture so he left." Mark turned to Robert for his input but only saw him shake his head.

"She's never mentioned him to me." he told them.

"Oh." Derek murmured, suddenly feeling a sense of unexplained guilt.

"I have a son though, he's almost one. And I'm engaged to one of the ICU nurses."

"That's great, Mark. Congratulations." Derek replied, a genuine smile on his face to wish his former best friend the best of luck.

"You seeing anyone? Any kids? A lot changed in six years."

"I did get married three years ago but um, it didn't work out. She was a lot younger. I was ready for kids, she didn't want them. We're um...in the middle of a divorce."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Mark apologized.

"So Addison's raising Alexa on her own? That must be difficult with her job and everything."

"I wouldn't say she's raising her on her own. Archer helps out when he can. She stays with him sometimes when she's on call. He takes her out to give Addison some time to herself. Sometimes she stays with me and Jill while Addie's at work. I mean, we try to help but yeah, I guess for the most part she is doing it alone."

"Your fiance doesn't mind?"

"Doesn't mind what? Me helping Addison? No. Why would she mind, Derek? Addison is like a sister to me. She helps me and Jill out with our son. Sometimes he stays at her place so Jill and I can go out. She's Andrew's godmother, not that we're religious or anything, but I wanted her to be something to my kid."

"Do you usually sleep with your sisters?"

"Derek!" Robert exclaimed, this time a glared fixed in his direction. "I feel like you two are a couple of kids. I thought you were actually being civil for a second. Sloan, get back to work. Derek, you should probably get going before you offend anymore of my staff."

"I'm sorry." Derek apologized. "I really don't know where that came from. Good luck, Mark. And congratulations on the engagement and your son. I'm sure you're an amazing father."

"Thanks, Derek." Mark replied with a smile.

* * *

"Derek!" Addison exclaimed when she came face to face with him in the hospital lobby after dropping her daughter off at daycare.

He came to stop when he heard his name and turned to see her coming toward him.

"I was hoping to see you again. I, uh, I really need to talk to you." she told him. "If you have a minute, we could go to my office now. Or I can give you my phone number, call or text when you're ready. Or not, it's really up to you." she rambled awkwardly.

"I can talk now." he said, following her up to her office where he promptly sat on a chair while she went behind her desk. "What is it? You look very serious all of a sudden."

"Because you're going to hate me even more than you already do after I say this." she replied, taking a deep breath before looking to her former husband. "You're Alexa's father, Derek."she blurted without even bothering to sugarcoat it.

"What?"

"I'm sorry. I was two months pregnant before the affair. I found out the day after you left. I tried to call you to let you know but never picked up."

"I have a child?"

"Yes."

Derek sat there in silence staring at her. He didn't know what to say, he just couldn't bring himself to form words. After almost a whole minute of silence he started, "I...I...uh, I.." he stuttered. "I don't even know what to say."

"I'm sorry." she said again. "You don't have to be a part of her life if you don't want to be, I've been able to manage up until now, I don't need help. Or um, if you do want to be a part of her life but you don't want to have anything to do with me then we can figure out a way to work that out. It just depends on how you want to tackle the issue."

"I have a daughter. I've got a five year old daughter that I found out about three minutes ago." he said to himself.

"I'm sorry." Addison repeated.

"Why are you telling me now?" he suddenly found himself asking.

"Because I owe it to my daughter, Derek." She said simply. "She tried to set me up with the guy who works at Starbucks because she thought he would be a good father for her. She's too young to have to worry about that kind of stuff."

Derek couldn't help up chuckle a little at the story. "She did that?"

"Yeah, she does it all the time. Keeping her from you was a mistake, it's hurt her so much. She hates Christmas. Hates it. When she was three she asked to have her Daddy for Christmas. I obviously could not deliver and she hasn't been the same ever since."

"I'm sorry." he said, not knowing what else would be appropriate.

"I'd love to finally be able to give my daughter the only thing she's ever really wanted. I feel terrible for keeping her from you. She deserves a father." Addison continued. "But, again, it's up to you. You don't have to act on this information if you don't want to."

"She's my daughter, Addison. Of course I'm going going to want to be a part of her life."

"I don't want you to feel obligated, Derek. Do you want to take some time to think it over?"

"No, I don't need time to think it over." he told her surely as she got up from the chair in her office. "Give me your number, I'll call you later and we'll set up dinner or something so I can actually meet her."

Addison nodded her response. She retrieved a business card from one of the drawers and wrote her personal cell phone number on the back of it.

She waited for a call all day, she checked her cell phone constantly to make sure she didn't miss it. And suddenly she felt a sense of deja vu, living the last very months of her marriage over again. The call never came.

Addison quickly figured that getting her number and walking away was a smart way to protect his ego. He seemed like the good guy, the guy who didn't get angry with a woman for keep his child a secret, the guy who would be there for his child despite his disdain for her mother. All he had to do was act interested, take her number and run without looking back. After realizing that, Addison was glad she hadn't mentioned him to Alexa. No point in letting him break her heart too.

* * *

"I'm coming!" Addison exclaimed, running down the stairs in her Brownstone at 6:30 am in an oversized college sweater and pajama bottoms. She was moving as fast as she could to answer the door before the loud banging could wake her daughter. She was completely shocked to see Derek standing on the other side. "What are you doing here?" she asked as soon as she opened the door and saw him.

"Good morning and Merry Christmas to you too." he replied sarcastically.

"It's 6:30 am on my day off. You want me to be nice when you're the reason I'm not in my bed right now?" she asked, holding the door open so he could walk in. She closed the door behind him and looked at Derek expectedly. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see Alexa. Is she in the living room by the tree ripping her presents open?" Derek wondered. He walked further into the Brownstone and glanced into the living room then turned back to Addison who was still standing in the foyer. "Where is your Christmas tree?"

"We don't have a Christmas tree."

"You don't have a Christmas tree?" Derek repeated in surprise. "You invested thousands in ornaments over the years, you practically have as many ornaments as you do shoes and you don't have a tree?"

"Alexa hates Christmas. We haven't had a tree since that year when she was three. She broke down and begged not to have it year after that. Oh, and she hates Christmas presents so you have to put that back in your car."

"What kind of child does not like Christmas presents?"

"The kind of child who has no father. The kind of child who has a father who told her mother that he'd call her about said child then never did. Then he shows up at her house at 6:30 in the morning demanding answers."

"I'm sorry I didn't call you. I meant to but something came up and I had to fly back out to Seattle ASAP. I literally have not had a single minute since then to call you. As soon as I had the chance I got on a redeye flight back here so I could be be here with you and Alexa on Christmas."

"What could have possibly occupied so much time that you didn't have a minute to call?"

"My divorce was finalized, finally. My lawyer got us a last minute court date so I had to make it back to Seattle ASAP for it. As soon as that happened and it was done, I was going to come back...but then I Richard, you remember Richard, right? He needed surgery and I had to do it and I had to fill in as chief for him so, I don't know, it was hectic. But if it means anything I am missing Christmas at my sister's house to be here."

"You don't have to do that. Christmas really isn't that special in this household anymore. Alexa sleeps until like 9 or 10. She stays in bed until 12 watching cartoons then we order pizza and stay in and watch classic Disney movies. I believe she's chosen the Little Mermaid and Sleeping Beauty for this year...Although she's scared of the Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty so she changes her mind the minute she goes to put in the DVD. So we'll probably end up watching 101 Dalmatians or something."

"You eat pizza on Christmas?" Derek asked unbelievably.

"Yeah, from this one place that's usually open. They have the worst pizza but it's the only place open that delivers here. Plus, why do you find that strange? We always ate Chinese for Thanksgiving."

Derek shrugged. "But Thanksgiving isn't Christmas. You loved Christmas. I always thought your kids would love it too, like it would be genetically programmed. I thought your house would look like the North Pole."

"She's my kid, Derek and I would do anything for her. If she's uncomfortable with Christmas then I'm not going to force it on her." Addison replied. "You're more than welcomed to stay and hang out until she's awake. I'm gonna go back to bed but you came make yourself comfortable, do whatever you want or you can go have your traditional Christmas morning with your family and come back later to see her. Whatever you wanna do."

"I'll go and let you get back to bed." he answered. "I'll be back in about an hour."

"Alexa won't be awake in an hour."

"I know. And you don't have to be awake either. You can just let me in and I'll take care of the rest."

Addison groaned and went to the hall closer to retrieve her keys from her purse. She took the house key off of her key chain and pressed it into Derek's palm. "Don't wake me up again." she told him firmly.

Just over an hour later Derek let himself into the Brownstone and set down a large, green Christmas tree in a corner of the living room. He looked at it from every angle to make sure it was the right spot for it and nodded his head in approval. It wasn't easy finding a tree lot that early on Christmas morning but he was glad he could do it. Derek ventured down to the basement where he was sure that Addison had all of her precious ornaments well preserved. He located them in a large, clear plastic boxes labeled in very neat handwriting. He brought the box up the stairs as quietly as he could and decided on a color scheme for the three after taking an inventory of the ornaments. He choose silver and light blue.

The biggest struggle was getting a newly acquired box of white lights onto the tree. A glance at the tree revealed that it was almost 8:30 and he was only half done with the lights. After lights came ornaments, he carefully considered the spot of each ornament. Once he was done he stood back and admired the outcome; he feared it would look like a horrible, tacky mess but it actually looked very elegant and simple. It was after nine by the time he had finished. He ran out to his car to unload the trunk full of Christmas presents for his little girl and he placed them under the tree. Finally Derek breath a sigh of relief before sitting cross legged beside the tree next to the small stash of presents. His daughter would be awake soon as he wanted her to experience Christmas like every other child in the country.

Twenty minutes later he heard little footsteps coming down the stairs. His heart started beating faster as the footsteps came toward the living room and stopped in the doorway. The little girl looked horrified at the sight in front of her. She looked like she wanted to scream and turn around and run but she didn't.

"Hi, Alexa." Derek greeted softly.

"How did you get in here?" she asked quietly. "I'm gonna call the cops if you don't tell me!" she threatened.

"Your mom let me in this morning before she went back to sleep." he answered and noticed her very Addison-like feature soften.

If her mother let this man in then he was obviously not a stranger who was there to do harm. She also noticed the fact that his eyes were the exact same shade as her and she had the same dimples when she was somewhat odd to her. She'd never come across anyone she shared so many features with aside from her mother and maybe her uncle Archer. Pushing all those grown up thoughts aside, she said "We don't celebrate Christmas. You hafta get this stuff out of here before Mommy wakes up. We can't do our tradition with this stuff everywhere."

"Your mom and I talked about that. She said that you don't like Christmas because Santa never got you want you wanted." Derek started gently and saw the little nod. "Well, this year Santa finally found what you wanted."

Alexa stared at him with a quirked brow. She started at Derek for a few seconds before it hit her. "You're my Daddy, aren't you?"

"I am." he confirmed with a smile, revealing his distinctive dimples to her one more time. "It took Santa a long to find me but I'm finally here."

Alexa hesitantly moved closer to him. She reached out to touch his face, almost as if she was trying to make sure that he's actually there. She continued to observe his characteristics and nodded that she had his wavy hair. Finally she stopped overthinking and practically launched herself into his arms. Derek was caught off guard but he managed to catch the child.

"I've always wanted a daddy." she confided in him. After a few seconds she pulled out of the embrace. "I'm gonna go tell Mommy that Santa found my Daddy!" she exclaimed with excitement as she ran to get her mother.

After a whole day of Christmas activities, Derek tucked his little girl into bed. He lied on the edge of the bed, on top of his daughter's covers. He was cuddling her close, inhaling the unmistakable scent of baby shampoo.

"Did you have a good Christmas, Alexa?" he asked her softly just as she was falling asleep three hours past her bedtime. "Are you no longer against Christmas now that you're on good terms with Santa?"

"I had lots of fun." she admitted. She had smiled and laughed almost all day long. "Maybe I'll start liking Christmas now that Santa found my Daddy."

Derek glanced up at Addison who was standing in the doorway and smiled triumphantly. "Your mom and I love the holiday season. Next year we can get an early start. You can help me pick a tree and we can decorate it. And we'll be prepared, unlike this time, so we can make Christmas cookies or a gingerbread house."

"Can I ask you something?" Alexa asked.

"Sure."

"Are you gonna be Mommy's boyfriend or husband since you're my daddy?"

Derek was left speechless for a few seconds. He hadn't really considered what his relationship would be to Addison now that there was a child in the picture. "Umm…" he took a few seconds then took a deep break before he replied, "Your mom and I are just friends for now. I love your mom, I will always love your mom because she gave me you. Maybe someday we will try being a couple again, maybe we won't. I don't know. We may date other people and marry other people. No matter what, we will always be there for you and we will always love you more than anything else."

Alexa had anticipated a response like that. For that reason she asked, "Can I write my letter early so he can start working on my present extra early? All the kids send their letters in November and then he won't have time..."

"What do you want next year?" Derek questioned.

"I want you and Mommy to fall in love like in the cartoons and then I want to live happily ever after like Cinderella. Santa needs to start working on that ASAP so it will happen by Christmas."

"I'm not sure that's the kind of thing Santa has control over, sweetheart." Addison interjected from the doorway. "Can't you just ask for a pony instead? You know, something easy."

"He can try!" she exclaimed in frustration. "It may take long, like finding Daddy took long but if he can do that then he can do anything!"

Not wanting to upset the child, both Addison and Derek agreed with her. They promised to help her with her letter to Santa the very next day. She mailed it off that following afternoon and patiently embraced all the changes in her life. Derek initially lived in Seattle for the first two months of their relationship. He found it difficult to stay away from his daugher and made the decision to move back to New York.

After moving back, he was constantly over at their house. He would pick Alexa up from school and get started on dinner before Addison came home. He would arrange to go out with them over the weekends and they scheduled movie nights every Friday. Spending so much time with Addison was never really in his plans but he didn't mind it. They found themselves growing closer and closer until one day Derek kissed her goodbye at their movie night on the lips instead of her cheek. They both froze after pulling away, Addison speechlessly stared into his eyes as she thought through her response. She elevated herself on her toes and softly kissed him back. The next few days were awkward until he admitted that at some point in time, he felt himself starting to fall for her. When she returned the sentiment everything fell into place.

Come Christmas, Derek insisted on taking his two favorite girls to Rockefeller Center where he had paid to have the the ice rink closed to the public for an hour. He got down on one knee with his daughter looking on and proposed. Alexa was clearly surprised and ecstatic.

"I told you Santa could do it!" she exclaimed for the rest of the night. "He can do anything!" She kept telling them all the way home.

That night she impatiently stood outside her parents bedroom door with a piece of paper and a pen. She knocked before entering into the pitch black room. "Mommy. Daddy." she whispered, struggling to climb the high bed and get over Derek to land in the middle of both parents. All the wiggling ended up waking them up and they turned on their light to find their daughter seated between them on the mattress holding a piece of paper and a pen.

"It's 3 in the morning, Alexa." Addison murmured groggily. "Why are you awake?"

"I decided what I want next year and we have to write my letter ASAP cuz Santa needs time."

"Tomorrow." Derek murmured tiredly, pulling the little girl down from her sitting position so she could lie between them.

"No, now." she insisted. "I need to send it in the morning."

"What do you want from Santa for next year?" Derek finally gave up and asked.

"A baby brother or sister." she told him seriously. "Santa can do anything and I really want to be a big sister."

"You don't need to write to Santa about that. I'll call him in the morning and put in your request." Derek told her, pulling the blanket over her. He turned off the light and waited until he heard deep, rhythmic breathing coming from his little girl. "Addison." he whispered, knowing she was awake. "Did you hear her?"

"Yes." she said, eyes closed as she let out a deep sigh. "Is it just me or are these requests getting harder and harder? I almost miss the days when she believed Santa wasn't capable of getting anything done."

"You love that she's a huge fan of the holidays now." Derek contradicted.

"I'm just grateful that she stopped trying to set me up with every attractive man she came across by hitting on them for me."

* * *

1. I've been trying to post this since yesterday but Fanfiction had some error that wasn't letting me or anyone I know log on. Blame them for the delay, not me.

2. I started working on this to post last Christmas but didn't finish it in time. Luckily I finished it in time for this year. (Although there is only 1 hour left to the 25th so I barely made it.)

3. Hope you all enjoyed it.

4. FYI- Reviews are an excellent Christmas present.


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